Cool Animation & Graphics Programs

For those of you who want to do more animations you could try Scratch Animations which is not as tricky to do as flash and not as expensive, we're talking free here.
http://scratch.mit.edu/

Did You Know? Google has a 3D drawing program called Sketch Up? It is a free download for you to use at home,(we don't have enough space here though)

Also Try Blender see what you think!

Multimedia II Student Slideshow

Over on the Multi2 ning we have got a great collection of photos from the winter photowalk and the Senior Portraits assignment.  Here is a slideshow  of our pictures.

Find more photos like this on MultimediaII

Photowalk in Winter, look for structure.

Wintertime allows us to look at the structure of things in a landscape.  Here we have the dark shapes of the evergreens on the right balanced by the thinner but more numerous aspen trees on the right.  The shadows set up an alternating rhythm in the foreground.  The whole shot is a contrast, light against dark, strong shapes against many thin ones.  The complex structures would not be as apparent if we were working in color.

In this photowalk, look for leading lines, lines that create direction or structure. Look for patterns in shadows, in wintertime the light angle produces many interesting ones across the day.  Part of your investigations might include texture and pattern, repeated branches, smooth areas vs complex ones, use your eyes and then snap!

Flickr for MM2?

Is it time to use flickr?
Many of you already know that flickr is a massive photo sharing site and I was wondering if you thought it was time to create a flickr group of our own. Here are 2 articles that can help us decide. After you read them please post to the ning if you want to start one up.
http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/2009/01/04/quick-start-tips-for-new-flickr-users-part-http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/2009/01/11/quick-start-tips-for-new-flickr-users-part-ii/

More about your tutorials

By now you should have put some thought into what web 2.0 app you are going to create a tutorial for. You should also be thinking HARD about what format you will use. There are several mentioned in past posts to this blog so you might want to dig through the archives.

Remember we have Photostory and microphones if you want to do an audio presentation rather than a written one. Here is a list of some audio programs besides photostory that you could use. Voice Thread, Movie Maker, PowerPoint,Google Presentation, Screen Toast, Jing and Flowgram.

Here is a link to a good article for screencasting tips:
http://www.screencast.be/tips_tricks+screen_capture.html

21 Settings

Here's another great article from Digital Photography School: 21 Settings, techniques and rules all new Camera owners should know. Take a look and make it a resolution to try these.

Screen Casts

Remember awhile back I used screencast-o-matic to make a screen cast but it didn't load in the lab due to a conflict with java.  Here is another on line screen cast editor that will work on an earlier version of java and does much the same thing but with fewer bells and whistles. I will give you the username and password if you promise to share and play nicely.  If you want your own account, I can fix you up with that too but it takes time to activate.  This application is still in beta but will work in the lab, if you are doing screen casting at home you can use jing which is a downloadable program, or you can use screencast-0-matic too.

Here is a screencast video of our MultimediaII ning main page

Record your screencast online